The magnificent five are riding into town!

Armed with over 100 instruments, these brilliant musicians perform a fistful of Ennio Morricone classics from the movies that made Clint Eastwood a star.

The stunning soundtracks include The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, For A Few Dollars More and Once Upon a Time in The West.

This ingenious gang of comic maestros underscore these iconic compositions with hilarious sound effects... blowing on bottles, crushing cornflakes, ‘playing' coathangers, apples, squeaky toys, rubbergloves, bicycle pumps, nailclippers and many more - recreating every punch up, gunshot, and jangling spur that define the gun slinging west.

Audiences across the world have been amazed and enthralled by this international sensation. 

Not to be missed.

SWO on BBC TV's Later... with Jools Holland

USEFUL LINKS

www.youtube.com/sworchestra
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_Western
www.enniomorricone.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Leone
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin

CURRENT TOUR DATES - 2012

No performances currently scheduled.

PAST TOURING - 2012

AUSTRALIA

14 - 19 August SYDNEY Opera House

UK RETURN DATES

Wed 23 May, 7.30pm BIRMINGHAM Town Hall

Thu 24 May, 7.30pm DURHAM Gala Theatre

Sun 27 May, 7.30pm SALFORD The Lowry
 

NETHERLANDS

Fri 18 May, 8.00pm AMSTERDAM Koninklijk Theater Carré

Sat 19 May, 8.00pm AMSTERDAM Koninklijk Theater Carré

Sun 20 May, 2.00pm AMSTERDAM Koninklijk Theater Carré

UK & IRELAND TOUR

Tue 7 Feb, 7.45pm BRIGHTON Theatre Royal

Wed 8 Feb, 7.30pm OXFORD New Theatre

Thu 9 Feb, 8.00pm BRISTOL St George's

Fri 10 Feb, 7.30pm LLANDUDNO Venue Cymru

Sun 12 Feb, 7.30pm CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange

Mon 13 Feb, 7.30pm WIMBLEDON New Wimbledon Theatre

Wed 15 Feb, 7.30pm YORK Grand Opera House

Fri 17 Feb, 5.00pm & 8.00pm SALFORD QUAYS The Lowry

Sat 18 Feb, 7.30pm LEEDS Town Hall

Sun 19 Feb, 7.30pm SUNDERLAND Empire Theatre

Wed 22 Feb, 7.30pm KILLARNEY INEC Theatre

Thu 23 Feb,7.30pm DUBLIN The Helix

Fri 24 Feb, 8.00pm GALWAY The Black Box Theatre

Sat 25 Feb, 7.30pm CORK Opera House

Sun 26 Feb, 7.30pm BELFAST The Ulster Hall

Wed 29 Feb, 7.30pm BASINGSTOKE The Anvil

Thu 1 Mar, 8.00pm COVENTRY Warwick Arts Centre

Fri 2 Mar, 7.30pm NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall

Sat 3 Mar, 7.30pm STOKE ON TRENT Victoria Hall

Sun / Sul 4 Feb, 7.00pm, CARDIFF / CAERDYDD Wales Millennium Centre

Tue 6 Mar, 7.30pm LIVERPOOL Empire Theatre

Wed 7 Mar, 7.30pm LEICESTER De Monfort Hall

Fri 9 Mar, 7.30pm GRIMSBY Auditorium

Sat 10 Mar, 7.30pm FOLKSTONE Leas Cliff Hall

Sun 11 Mar, 7.30pm RICHMOND Theatre Royal

Mon 12 Mar, 7.30pm GLASGOW City Halls

Tue 13 Mar, 7.30pm EDINBURGH Festival Theatre

Wed 14 Mar, 7.30pm ABERDEEN Music Hall

Fri 16 Mar, 7.30pm BIRMINGHAM Town Hall

Sat 17 Mar, 8.00pm INVERNESS Eden Court Theatre

Sun 18 Mar, 6.00pm BRADFORD Eden Court Theatre

LONDON

Southbank Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall

5th - 11th January 7:30pm

PAST TOURING - 2011

LONDON

12th August BBC Proms 2011 Royal Albert Hall

HONG KONG

3rd & 4th August Hong Kong International Arts Carnival

PAST TOURING - 2010

MACAU

14 & 15 May Macau Arts Festival

LONDON

26 to 29 Oct Southbank Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall

FINLAND

2 Nov Lahti Sibelius Hall / 4 Nov Tampere Hall

FRANCE

9 Nov Enghien / 10 Nov Hazebrouck / 11 Nov Fouesnant / 12 Nov Rueil-Malmaison

13 Nov Sable Sur Sarthe / 14 Nov Coutances / 16 Nov Meudon

17 Nov Yutz / 18 Nov St Luce Sur Loire / 19 Nov Rouziers de Touraine

20 Nov Issoudon / 21 Nov Blayes les Mines / 23 Nov Maison Alfort

PAST TOURING - 2008 & 2009

ATHENS

NETHERLANDS

BELGIUM

LONDON & BRIGHTON

FRANCE

ITALY

CANADA

NORTH AMERICA

Spaghetti Western Orchestra premiered in 2007 and was the sell-out hit of The Montreal Jazz Festival. It then played L’Europeen Theatre in Paris, the St Pauli Theatre in Hamburg, the Koln Philharmonie and The Athenaeum Theatre In Melbourne. In 2008, the show returned to Montreal for the En Lumiere Festival at the Outremont Theatre.

Please contact info@ghmp.co.uk for tour enquiries.

CORPORATE/PRIVATE BOOKINGS

Spaghetti Western Orchestra has a shortened set available for these events. For more information please contact info@ghmp.co.uk

LIVE SHOW CD AVAILABLE TO BUY HERE

 

 

 

THE MUSIC

The Maestro’s Music in the show.
All compositions by Ennio Morricone

The Man With The Harmonica from the film Once Upon A Time In The West

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly from the film of the same name

A Gringo Like Me from the film Gunfight At Red Sands

Farewell To Cheyenne from the film Once Upon A Time In The West

Chi Mai from the film Maddalena

A Fistful Of Dollars from the film of the same name

Valkyries from the film My Name Is Nobody

For A Few Dollars More from the film of the same name

Ecstasy of Gold from the film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Two Mules For Sister Sara from the film of the same name

Death Rides A Horse from the film of the same name

The Chase from the film A Fistful of Dollars

60 Seconds To What? from the film For A Few Dollars More

Duck You Sucker from the film A Fistful of Dynamite

Once Upon A Time In The West from the film of the same name

Marcetta from the film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

A Professional Gun from the film The Mercenary

THE ORCHESTRA PLAY:

Asthma Inhaler, Bass Recorder, Bassoon, Bells, Birdwings Sound Effect, Body Drop Sound Effect, Bouncy Ball Pump, Castanets, Chickens Sound Effect, Child Sized Boot, Claves, Coat Hangers (2), Concert Bass Drum, Concert Tom Toms, Cornflakes (Small Packet and Large Packet), Creaky Door Sound Effect, Deck Of Cards, Double Bass, Drum Kit, Dutch Clog & Tambourine Jingles, Egg Shakers, Electronic Sampler, Fake Glasses, Film Canister, Bird Whistle, Finger Cymbals (2), Footsteps Sound Effect, Frog Clicker, Harmonica (Working), Harmonica (Broken), Horseshoe, Jews Harps (6), Kat Midi Controller (2 Octaves), Kitchen Knife with Sharpening Steel, Latchbolt Sound Effect, Mandolin, Maracas (I Pair), Melodeon (2), Nail Clippers, Nail File, Ocarina, One Note Saxophone, Orchestral Whip, Packaging Tape (1 Roll), Pan Pipes, Piano, Plastic Bags (2), Policeman’s Whistle, Ratchet, Reel- To-Reel Tape Machine, Sticks And Twigs (Locally Sourced), String Can, Suspended Cymbals, Synthesizer, Tam Tam, Tasmanian Lottery Balls, Theremin, Timpani (3), Tin Whistle (5), Trumpet, Tuned Beer Bottles (11), Two Tone Whistle, Ukulele, Vibraphone Wind Machine, Wooden Cowbells.

 

 

BORIS CONLEY is...THE GOLD SCHMELLER

Favourite Spaghetti Western Film Once Upon A Time In The West

Favourite Spaghetti Western Actor Eli Wallach

Favourite Line '…everybody here has become very rich or else they are dead'.
from Fistful of Dollars, spoken by the bell-ringer to the Man With No Name as he enters town.

WHY I LOVE THIS SHOW

"When we play the Morricone themes we imagine that we are in the world of the movies. Sometimes I look around on stage and see only four other performers and wonder how we make such a huge sound. I love playing the pipe organ solo from “For A Few Dollars More” where the audience can feel the basso profundo tones vibrating their seats”

BIOGRAPHY

After studies at the Canberra School of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts, Boris forged a career as a composer, musician and performer in theatre. His early experience in these roles included musical director of The Flying Fruit Fly Circus and the co-composition of the highly acclaimed music theatre piece Cho Cho San, an adaptation of the Madame Butterfly story.

He has composed the music for numerous visual theatre shows including The Reading Boy, Viva la Vida Frida and The Paperbag Princess for Handspan Theatre. For the Melbourne Theatre Company he played piano for Knuckledusters - The Gems of Edith Sitwell, and was the musician for Gulliver's Travels. Boris also composed Aqua, a dance piece for the Australian Ballet, and The Witch of Endor, a short opera for OzOpera.

As a performer he appeared on Frontline (ABC TV) and more recently in Chamber Made Opera's production of Phobia and in The Spaghetti Western Orchestra and The Session.

DAVID HEWITT is...THE LIETELLER

We are delighted that Daivd is rejoing the Orchestra for the Sydney season

BIOGRAPHY

David trained as a percussionist in Australia, Japan and the USA. Along with SWO, David¹s recent focus has been as a composer, music director and educator in remote and regional Australian communities. This has included projects with the Old Van Theatre Company, Musica Viva Australia and Four Winds Festival. He was previously a member of Synergy Percussion, and a founding member of the Sydney based Japanese drumming group, Taikoz. He has worked with the likes of Chamber Made Opera, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Bell Shakespeare Company, National Institute for Circus Arts, Sydney Dance Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

GRAEME LEAK is...THE BANKTELLER

Favourite Spaghetti Western Film I can't name a favourite...I really can't!

Favourite Spaghetti Western Actor and Line Rod Steiger lives in my memory the longest, especially when he says to his young son during a coach robbery ‘How many times have I told you – no shooting unless Papa pulls the trigger!’ (from A Fistful of Dynamite)

WHY I LOVE THIS SHOW

"The show is full of wonderful moments for me and it’s hard to play favourites but performing the theme from Once Upon a Time in the West on Theremin is right up there. I imagine that I’m a ridiculously high soprano (I play the theme an octave or sometimes two higher than humanly possible) filling the auditorium with a beautiful alien voice. In general, I love the way we’ve managed as an ensemble over the years to bring what are usually considered non-musical performance elements (noises, sound effects, odd instruments, character gestures and movements, grunting even) together to make musical sense. The way Morricone combined the music of the soul with the music of the everyday in such a powerful way in the Spaghetti Western scores is still my primary inspiration".

BIOGRAPHY

Graeme Leak is a performer and composer with a background in percussion and drumming. He studied in Sydney and in 1985 he lived and studied in New York. His activities range from composing to contemporary music performance to self-devised solo shows to workshop leading to conducting to instrument making. In 2001 he led over 500 bell ringers in a massed performance for the closing of the Melbourne International Arts Festival. In 2003 he completed an outback project for the Queensland Music Festival where he designed, built and led the locals in playing a Musical Fence (now a popular tourist attraction). In 2005 he wrote and directed The Incredible Hulls, a work for a floating 'orchestra' of up to 100 boats and in 2006 he wrote and directed the closing Finale for a 'superstar' World Percussion Spectacular at the Commonwealth Games. His latest work Ringing the Changes for aerial swing-pole performers is currently toured by Melbourne company Strange Fruit.

SHANNON BIRCHALL is...THE YOUNGFELLER

We are delighted that Shannon is joining the Orchestra for the Autumn Tour 2009

Favourite Spaghetti Western Film Once Upon A Time in the West

Favourite Character Cheyenne (Jason Robards)

Favourite Lines

Yeah go on, play harmonica. Play so you can't bullshit. Only watch those false notes.

and

You know Jill, you remind me of my mother: she was the biggest whore in Alameda and the finest woman that ever lived. Whoever my father was, for an hour or for a month, he must have been a happy man.

BIOGRAPHY

Shannon picked up the bass at age 15 after playing violin for eight years. Training as an orchestral musician while playing jazz and studying at the Victorian College of the Arts, he began working with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Later he toured Europe, North America and Russia with traditional-jazz influenced punk-band The Hoodangers and to Scandinavia with The Band Who Knew Too Much. He has sometimes sizzled with the Austro-Cuban septet Sally Ford and the Pachuco Playboys, occasionally cooked mariachi-style violin in tex-mex band Texicali Rose, and readily boiled bass in The John Butler Trio. Theatre appearances include the Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2002 production of True West and Urinetown in 2004, as well as Chamber Made Opera's production of Phobia in 2006. Shannon presently steams with Deborah Conway and Willy Zigier, as well as the modern piano trio Daquqi.

PATRICK CRONIN is...THE STORYTELLER

Favourite Spaghetti Western Film For A Few Dollars More

Favourite Spaghetti Western Actor Franco Nero as Django

Favourite Line 'Hey Amigo, you know you’ve got a face beautiful enough to be worth 2,000 dollars?'

WHY I LOVE THIS SHOW

"For me, the Spaghetti Western Orchestra is a fantastic performance vehicle. It is a challenging show that draws on everything I’ve learnt in my twin backgrounds in music and comedy. But what gives me the greatest satisfaction is working with the guys as an ensemble. Five of us creating this layered soundscape of music, sound effects and text demands a discipline and sensitivity towards the whole performance that tempers my natural tendency toward unbridled and selfish upstaging - the SWO is good for my moral fibre. Then there is the music itself. Performing Morricone’s scores is a rich and rewarding musical experience - heroic western themes, delicate slow passages, crazed bar room honky tonk. The music is beautifully composed and a joy to play, and how else do I get to whistle for a living?”

BIOGRAPHY

Patrick has worked in theatre, comedy and music theatre with a variety of companies and performance ensembles including Melbourne Theatre Company, Chamber Made Opera, Melbourne Workers Theatre, The Cabbage Brothers and The Men Who Knew Too Much. His musical interests have taken him from 30's swing to salsa to polka to film music with such bands as Texicali Rose, Sally Ford & the Pachuco Playboys, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, The Happy Polka Boys, Melbourne Massed Gospel Choir and Spaghetti Western Orchestra.

As a freelance creative producer and consultant for festivals and events, Patrick has worked for numerous organisations including the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Melbourne Writers Festival, the Victorian Arts Centre, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Victoria's Centenary of Federation, Arts Victoria and Cirque du Soleil.

Director & Designer : DENIS BLAIS

Denis was born in Gatineau, Quebec and raised in Canada.

He studied journalism, set design and editing at Algonquin College, Ottawa Ontario Canada and Communications and at Ottawa University. Denis worked as a club DJ for over 20 years in Detroit, Ottawa, Bonn, Cologne and Berlin.

Denis was the co-founder of the Belgo Restaurants in London, UK. He manages concert pianist James Rhodes.

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra show is his directorial debut. In the spring of 2007 he worked with SWO in Melbourne - where he stage designed / co-choreographed / and co-designed the lighting for the show.

 

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

No soundtracks have ever helped so much a series of film deliver and define its genre as much as the EM scores for Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns. The musical imagery was completely woven into the visual psyche of the viewer.

These reflections brought me to the concept: what if musical scores were to come to life. Not in visual adaptations; but in surreal live performance. A reincarnation of pauses, grunts, notes and gestures.

In the days of Silent Movies the musical scores were played live. The actors on the screen looked somewhat ghostly and over exposed in their white make up and black eyeliner features. The musical narrative was imperative to the atmosphere of the film. There was a certain magic in that. So I thought physical theatre/comedy. Big Shadows. That’s what the sounds look and feel like. But what about the great facial expressions? If we were to go into large concert halls and theatres, how were we to be able to pick up those smirks and grimaces? I remembered the Robert Wilson panto/operetta’s performances, I had gone to see, such as Black Rider and Woycezk, seated in row Y or X. I could see almost every detail because of one thing: the make up. Then I went back to look at old silent movies and felt that I had found, in part, the solution. I felt it completely unnecessary to have projected film to assist the concerts. We are always spoon fed everything today and too often we leave a show feeling lazy and unsurprised by the explicitness of the whole experience. It’s the old problem of adaptation. How many times do they turn a book into a film only for the reader to be severely disappointed. It falls simply on the fact that we IMAGINED it differently when we read it. Yes we created our very own visual landscape. So it should be with The Spaghetti Western Orchestra concert.

We must drive the imagination and stir the souls of past memories. Let the audience dream and try to remember when they first saw the films: where they were, what scene was this in, what it felt like.

We will have visual effects but they will not be used as cerebral imagery fillers. They will take the shape of large colour fields and figurative shadows.

The stage set is a blank page: white cyclorama and white stage floor. The story is told as you perform it. It absorbs the performance and casts long exaggerated shadows like the grunts and squeaks you emit. You leave a very large visual footprint through the music and atmosphere you create. The three large orange acrylic discs look like giant gel-like cymbals. They push the constant elegiac tryptonic themes Leone was so obsessed with: innocence, death and revenge. Think of the TRILOGY: Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

So it is with this train of thought that we position an invisible story line. The word invisible conjures shadows and spirits. The musicians are five ghosts/spirits that were left in the visual graveyard coming back to spook or should I say enchant us into a state of time regained/borrowed and buried. Enter: STORYTELLER, BANKTELLER, LIETELLER, GOLDSCHMELLER AND YOUNGFELLER.

Lighting Designer : KEITH TUCKER

Producer : GLYNIS HALL

 

See www.ghmp.co.uk for more information on GLYNIS HENDERSON PRODUCTIONS LTD

If you would like send feedback to the Orchestra please email swofeedback@gmail.com

COMMENTS FROM THEATRES AND AUDIENCE

"Wow, I saw you perform at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh last night and I was blown away! I can't honestly put into words how enjoyable it was and I can promise with everything I have that you will see me cheering in the audience again in the future!"

Mia Colquhoun - Edinburgh

"We just saw the Spaghetti Western Orchestra at the Music Hall in Aberdeen. There are no words for how much fun we had tonight. Superb musicianship, expert comic timing, brilliant imagination: Perfection. I can't wait to see you guys live again and next time, we'll be bringing all our friends because this is an experience that needs to be shared"

Laura & Martin Fae - Aberdeen

"Was at the concertt in glasgow last night. I'm speechless, words cannot describe the performance, to attempt to do so would do the guys a disservice. Utterly amazing, got to be the most joyous, entertaining concert Iv'e ever been to and Iv'e been attending concerts since the 1970's. Thank you guys for a truly wonderful experience, one which i'll remember forever, unforgettable! And please come back to Glasgow soon!

Jim Craig, Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, nr. Glasgow, Scotland

"I first saw the SWO on the television at the proms, my hair instantly stood on end and tingles ran down the back of my neck, I had to see them again and drag my wife in to see them on the BBC I player and it had the same effect, we both made our minds up to see them live at Wimbledon Theatre. What a cracking night out it was brilliant we both loved every minute of the show, a fist full of dollars well spent"

Hugh and Julie - London

"Saw the guys at the Proms at the Albert Hall.... just AMAZING! So clever, so talented and so entertaining. I have already checked on the dates for the UK tour in 2012 as we can't wait to see them again! Fabulous... thank you for such a joyous and happy evening...still smiling and laughing"

The Fox family - London

LATEST PRESS QUOTES

Extroaordinary... an endearing, impressive show.
The Guardian, UK ****

Take the magnificent music of Ennio Morricone, add five multi-talented, unashamedly theatrical Australians with impeccable comedy timing and let them loose on 100 instruments and you have some idea of Spaghetti Western Orchestra.A joyous celebration.

London Evening Standard, UK ****

"Widly inventive and funny"
The Daily Telegraph ****

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FOR ALL ENQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT:

Glynis Henderson Productions
69 Charlotte Street
London W1T 4PJ
tel: +44 (0) 207 580 9644

Email: info@ghmp.co.uk
www.ghmp.co.uk

GLYNIS HENDERSON PRODUCTIONS

WORLDWIDE MANAGEMENT

Glynis Henderson Productions Ltd produces, general manages and represents a variety of theatre, music and dance productions. The company specialises in introducing unique and exciting new work to an inte

rnational audience . It has proudly presented a broad range of productions over the years, and throughout the world. www.ghmp.co.uk

“The Spaghetti Western Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the support of Arts Victoria and the Australia Council for the Arts”
© 2008 Spaghetti Western Orchestra & Respective Artists. Website designed by: PATRICK MORRIS (www.morrisdesignoffice.com)